Lehmann's departure signals revolution

LONDON: Arsene Wenger's ceaseless pursuit of footballing perfection makes evolution his favored method of team-building, but the Arsenal manager faces a close-season revolution as he steels himself for the departures of several key players.

Sports

First for China as Liang reaches last 8

SHEFFIELD, England: Qualifier Liang Wenbo became the first Chinese snooker player to reach the quarterfinals of the snooker world championship when he came through a tense deciding frame against Joe Swail to win 13-12 on Monday.

Flyers hold off Canadiens to take 2-1 lead

NEW YORK: The Philadelphia Flyers scored a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Hawks match Celtics; Magic, Lakers advance

ATLANTA, Georgia: The Boston Celtics, who posted the best regular-season record in the National Basketball Association, was upset for the second game in a row by Atlanta, the worst team to make the playoffs.

Police probe Ronaldo after tranny incident

RIO DE JANEIRO: Police said on Monday they were investigating allegations by three transvestites that Brazilian soccer star and AC Milan forward Ronaldo threatened to harm them after he took them to a Rio de Janeiro motel.

Mussina and Yankees do just enough for 5-2 victory

CLEVELAND: Mike Mussina earned his 253rd win, tying Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell on the majors' career list, and the New York Yankees made the most of their five hits in a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday.

Top shot

Brown to coach Bobcats

Sports

Nadal hails 'special moment'

MONTE CARLO: Rafael Nadal hailed his historic fourth successive Monte Carlo Masters title triumph as a "special moment" which rewarded his fighting spirit.

Real crushes Bilbao but must wait for title

MADRID: Real Madrid was unable to clinch a 31st Spanish title on Sunday but its 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao means it can retain the crown with victory at Osasuna next weekend.

Ribery dazzles as Hitzfeld claims league title

BERLIN: Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld admitted the league title race is over after Franck Ribery struck twice to seal a 4-1 win over VfB Stuttgart to put his side 12 points clear at the top of the table.